Parliamentary body to decide caretaker PM after govt-Opp talks falter

Fuente: 
Pakistan Today
Fecha de publicación: 
25 Mayo 2018

Khursheed Shah says he will not hold any further meetings with PM Abbasi over caretaker premier

A parliamentary committee will now decide the name of the caretaker prime minister as Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah failed to reach a consensus over the matter on Friday.

Shah told reporters at his chamber in Parliament House that there would be no more meetings between him and Prime Minister Abbasi over naming the caretaker PM.

The announcement came just a day after a meeting between Abbasi and Shah was cancelled to deliberate over the matter. 

According to Shah, the ruling party had backed off from its earlier stance on the names for caretaker prime minister.

“Initially, the PPP was willing to nominate retired judges for the caretaker premier but the PML-N insisted that retired judges should not be nominated for the post, so we changed our mind and nominated Zaka Ashraf and Jalil Abbas Jilani,” he said, adding that the ruling party later changed its stance and insisted on the names of retired judges.

Shah said that he will send the two proposed names to the National Assembly speaker for consideration by the parliamentary committee. The opposition leader said he will also write a letter to the prime minister, informing him about the PPP’s reservations.

The term of the current government expires on May 31, after which the caretaker setup will be put in place to hold elections which are expected to be held in July.

In an earlier meeting, the premier and Shah had agreed that they would not disclose the names of their respective nominees for the office of caretaker prime minister till last moment in order to avoid “controversies” over the names.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already warned that if the government and the opposition failed to reach an agreement on the name of a caretaker prime minister, a bipartisan committee of lawmakers will be created to resolve the matter. If that committee is also unsuccessful, the matter will be referred to the ECP, which will then pick a name of its own choosing.

Pakistan Today

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/05/25/parliamentary-body-to-decide...